SELF Remembers Jennifer Goodman Linn

Jennifer Goodman Linn was not the type of woman who asked, "Why me?" She didn't ask it in 2004, when doctors diagnosed her with a rare soft-tissue sarcoma at age 33. She didn't ask it when the cancer came back again and again, despite endless surgeries and chemotherapy regimens. Instead, Linn forged ahead, always with wry humor. Earlier this year, the tumors in her abdomen grew so large that strangers congratulated her, asking, "When are you due?" "I didn't want to upset anyone," she said, so she simply responded, "Thanks!" and flashed a smile that lit up her face.

"I've never said, 'Why me,' because I've met so many people who have gotten this disease who didn't make it. So why them?" Linn told SELF editors at a lunch this summer. "You can either spend strength questioning why or you can focus on how you can make your life now the best it can be." For Linn, that meant staying active, finding joy in her marriage, family, friends and travel—and in what she called her true "baby": Cycle for Survival, the indoor-biking fund-raiser she and her husband, Dave, founded in 2007. Hatched on the back of a cocktail napkin with Linn's cycling instructor, Vicky Massoud, the charity has raised more than $9 million for rare cancer research, including trials that give health and hope to patients with few options. "I wanted to couple my passion for exercise with my passion for raising awareness and money," Linn explained.

In 2008, SELF honored Linn with our first annual Women Doing Good award. And over the years, our team called on her often, brainstorming ideas for cancer coverage, hopping on indoor bikes to raise money and marveling at her sparkle and positivity.

"Jen's inspiring commitment, energy and never-relenting spirit make me think every day, What can I do to help make the world a better place?" says SELF's editor-in-chief, Lucy Danziger. "Her contributions were personal—she brought humor, intelligence and caring to every conversation—but they were also global, raising money that moved the needle on new therapies. We, at SELF, are better for having known her." —Paula Derrow